Doggy Tales -- Let's Have Fun!

Doggy Tales - Caption Me This!

I've decided to do things a bit differently regarding Doggy Tales. We've had so much fun before with coming up with crazy, clever, and cute captions, that I'm going to make that a new feature!

Please send along adorable, amusing, or downright bizarre photos that you have of your pet. We'll all add our own thoughts as to what these amazing animals might be trying to say to our unique human species!

The winning caption will be chosen by my most patient hubby, and they'll receive a...*drum roll, please*...caption-winning trophy to be displayed on their site/blog!

How cool is that?

And, oh yes, if anyone has a delightful, heartwarming story to share with our readers, by all means submit it! Those are always welcome!

So, come on. Who's first to caption the photo below?

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REMEMBER: Doggy Tales is Reader Contributed. If you have, or have had, a finned, feathered, or furry friend you were fortunate enough to share your life with, we want to hear about it! Leave a comment here with an addy where I can contact you, or click the FaceBook link on the right hand side and PM me. Your article will be featured in a future Monday segment.

Take a Moment to Laugh

Credit must be given to Tanja Cilia for these hilarious out takes: (I dare you not to laugh out loud to at least one of these headlines)!

Doggy Tales -- The Story of Jack

Thanks to Patricia Yager Delagrange for her contribution!

Our chocolate lab, Annabella, was pregnant and two weeks before she was to give birth I found her hiding on our bed in the dark in the middle of the afternoon.  Something was wrong.  I called the vet who told me to take her temperature.  It was already 105.  She had to have x-rays to see what was going on.

I went to a specialized vet hospital about 40 minutes from home that had fifteen or more veterinarians, one who specialized in pregnant dogs and puppies.  She called me at 11 p.m. that evening and said one of the pups was dead and was poisoning Annabella.  Did I want to pay for exploratory surgery and a c-section, and if so, did I want to save the pups or save Annabella.  My instant answer was save mom and do the best you can with the puppies.

Two hours later Annabella had had a hysterectomy and given birth to five live pups out of eight - all premature, needing to be fed every two hours except during the wee hours of the night when they slept.

So began my (since no one else in the family could figure it out) journey of feeding five hand-size pups every two hours throughout the day. By the time I was finished feeding the five of them, I'd have a half-hour reprieve before I had to start all over again. And so it went for several weeks. I had to weigh them every morning to make sure none was losing weight.

 

Several weeks later and all the pups seemed to be thriving.  Until one of them (they were not named, but each had a different colored string around its neck) started acting funny, lethargic, not eating, one of his eyes started drooping, the top of his head seemed to be expanding and contracting.  This was not good.

Thousands of dollars later - still no diagnosis and my husband was talking about maybe putting him down.

No way.  Until we had a diagnosis, Jack (we’d named him Jack after One-Eyed Jack because of his drooping eye) was staying alive.

Days later, the vet called and said the radiologist had studied this condition in vet school but never seen it manifested in a real dog.  Jack had cranial mandibular osteopathy - a rare condition wherein his jawbone grew a golfball-sized lump under his chin.

Good news - it was a self-limiting condition, not life-threatening, and should stop soon.  Until that time we administered pain meds here at home.

Jack made it through and is a happy puppy STILL at five years old.  And the love of my life.  He weighs 100 pounds and loves to sit in my lap and nibble on my ears.

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REMEMBER: Doggy Tales is Reader Contributed. If you have, or have had, a finned, feathered, or furry friend you were fortunate enough to share your life with, we want to hear about it! Leave a comment here with an addy where I can contact you, or click the FaceBook link on the right hand side and PM me. Your article will be featured in a future Monday segment.

July is Sizzling with Sales of Miss Mae's Books!

Smashwords is having a July hot sizzling sale all month long! What are you gonna do when summer temps soar and it's too blazing hot to partake of any kind of outdoor activities? Find a cool spot, of course, grab a frosty, sweating, tall glass of iced tea -- and read!!!

All my ebooks, Said the Spider to the Fly, See No Evil My Pretty Lady, It's Extraordinary My Dear Winifred, Miss Penelope's Letters, and Through a Glass Darkly are participating in this sale. Just visit my author page here, click on the book(s) you're interested in and enter the code presented on the book page. Easy-peasy! :)

And remember, Catch Me If You Can, and When the Bough Breaks are already on the .99 cent list! Plus, Dove Island and Fated Destiny are given away free at this time!

So what are you waiting on? Make your plans to beat the heat this summer and stock up on these fabulous sales. :)

Your romance and mystery/suspense by Miss Mae is waiting. :)

Doggy Tales? Anyone?

I've heard from so many readers how they enjoy 'Doggy Tales'. It makes me smile to know there are so many like-hearted people who simply can't live without some kind of animals in our lives.

I'm blessed that so many have responded and sent their stories of their furred/finned/feathered friends. These little creatures make them simply glad to open their eyes in the mornings! :)

But, helloooo! I need more stories, please! Have you recently given Fido a bath, and he sprayed you with bubbles? Please tell us! How about the shave that went wrong at the groomers, and Sebastian came home looking like a crazed squirrel? We'd love for you to share the story!!

Remember, just contact me here and I'll give details of where to send the info. Thank you so much, and thanks for being a reader! :)

 

Doggy Tales -- Update on PAC

Update on PAC

Carol Huff was so touched by Cheryl Pierson's sharing of PAC's story that she was good enough to send this update. Thanks to all who opened their heart to this special guy! Read below:

Miss Mae...thank you so very much for your contribution and for sharing my love for this beautiful dog. He never deserved death row because he's such a love-bug...he has a tail wag for everyone and is as gentle as a lamb. Just a precious baby! I am attaching some pictures so you can at least see him outside that dreaded cage they had him stuffed in at the kill shelter.

He's my first pittie, and I am in love with this breed already. He's a gentle giant with a heart of gold. We have some vet bills coming up with him because he came to me with a touch of mange and a kennel cough. But he's worth every bit of it.

Enjoy the pictures (and don't worry about that choke chain you see in the pictures - it only stayed on him for a very short time because he's an extremely strong dog and was about to pull me down!) And thank goodness for Cheryl Pierson - she's responsible for me knowing about this baby.

Take care, and thanks again,
Carol Huff

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REMEMBER: Doggy Tales is Reader Contributed. If you have, or have had, a finned, feathered, or furry friend you were fortunate enough to share your life with, we want to hear about it! Leave a comment here with an addy where I can contact you, or click the FaceBook link on the right hand side and PM me. Your article will be featured in a future Monday segment.

A Dog Named PAC

Thanks to Cheryl Pierson who contributed this story.

Can I tell you a very very happy story? There was a dog named "PAC" who was surrendered to a dog pound in Georgia. They said as his owners dumped him there and walked away, he cried for them to come back so forlornly it was like a child crying for their parent. The owners left anyhow. Because PAC is a pit bull mix, there was not much hope for him to be adopted. He's not a cute puppy any longer. And a lot of people are leery of adopting pit bulls.  But here's his picture at the pound, and I can't imagine that any animal that would cry for a human who cared nothing more for them than to dump them like a piece of trash and walk away could be a BAD DOG. Pac was more human than the owners were! He was scared and  awaiting certain death.

Thank GOD for Facebook. One of my friends shared his picture on her page. There were over 4,000 shares of this picture. I shared the picture when I saw it, and guess what? A miracle happened! A woman I know who has several rescue animals happened to see my share! She lived 4 hours from the shelter, and cared enough to make arrangements to get him home to her house. He came home with her yesterday, and look at what a difference ONE DAY makes, with love in his life! She said he had a terrible case of fleas, and what is either the beginning of mange or where he has scratched himself so hard where the fleas were that he's scratched out some of his hair. This morning, she cooked him a mixture of chicken, vegetables and some rice. She said he looked at her as if he wasn't sure he should eat it, with such a look of pure love on his face, and thankfulness...

I just wanted to share this story of a happy ending for this sweet boy, and to say that there are angels who walk among us---I know one personally! 

NOTE FROM CHERYL: Carol and I met through writing stories for Chicken Soup. She runs a private small shelter out of her home, which was the ONLY reason she was allowed to adopt sweet PAC! I don't know all the rules and regulations, but for some reason, he was adoptable for one day only and it had to be by a shelter. The pound where he was was 4 hours from her house, and she had out of town guests staying with her. She PAID someone $150 to bring him to her so she could get him out of there! When he got to her place, she said he was really in bad shape, with a bad cough that can mean heartworms, or maybe kennel cough--she will have to take him to the vet on Monday, but for now is keeping him quarantined from the other dogs she takes care of. The adoptions papers, transport, and shots at the pound, etc. has already cost her close to $500, and she still has the vet to see on Monday about the cough.

If anyone wishes to contribute to PAC's vet visits/medications, it is deeply appreciated! You can send via PayPal at this email addy: herbiemakow@hotmail.com 

Carol also rescues horses/donkeys/mules, and has several cats there, too, at her place. She is just an all around good person! This past week two of my friends have really gone the extra mile to rescue animals whose pictures I re-shared on Facebook!

If you have any questions about Carol and her shelter, etc. please do not hesitate to ask. Leave a comment here at Doggy Tales, and I will answer. I know people want to help sometimes and don't know where or how--this is a perfect way to do it. 

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REMEMBER: Doggy Tales is Reader Contributed. If you have, or have had, a finned, feathered, or furry friend you were fortunate enough to share your life with, we want to hear about it! Leave a comment here with an addy where I can contact you, or click the FaceBook link on the right hand side and PM me. Your article will be featured in a future Monday segment.